I would love to to be able to work for an airline. However, considering that I am 31, starting flight training would be a bit late.
Cabin crew position appeals to as much as much as being taken hostage by the Taliban.
My previous experience lies in sales, customer service and operations. I currently hold a consultative sales position.
Hence, I came to the conclusion that my best chance would be with a cargo airline.
My main motivation, besides being an aviation buff, is the chance to fly on regular basis and be a part of a dynamic organization where thinking out of the box is encouraged.

My apologies if I have posted on the wrong forum.

I would be very grateful for any feedback from people working in the industry!

Depends on which co. you're considering. FEDEX's requirements are stiffer than some pax carriers and I would imagine UPS is as well. I have a friend that tried to get hired at FEDEX for a couple of yrs and never got the required turbine PIC hrs so AA hired him! Go figure.

Good cargo companies are just as difficult to get on with as pax airlines. You'll need your ATP, at least 1000 hrs of turbine PIC and several internal recommendations to get even half a glance from these type companies.

If you have a family and a decent career going, I'd stick with it and fly for fun. Flying for a living is difficult if you have any life outside of the cockpit.

My best friend flies for a cargo company, he's F/O on the 747. He likes it a lot. Flies around the world with a couple of weeks on, couple of weeks off. As DashTrash states its better if you're single, it didn't work out nearly as well for his marriage. FedEx is well known to be the best paying and consequently the hardest to get into, but there are many other cargo outfits to fly for, like the one he flies for.

Quoting bjorn14 (Reply 5): He said he did not want to fly says he's too old to start. Just wants an admin/sales/cs job.

You're absolutely right bjorn14 though he did make the statement he could fly occassionally meaning J/S I suppose. That being the case he should understand that at some co.s (Fedex) he may or may not be able to J/S depending on what "part" of the co. he is in.

I would not stick to freight only operators. I would actually recommend that you go to a passenger airline since there are more people employed at them and the logistics at a major airline is very interesting. Airlines usually want to hire people with airline experience, but not everyone has it. If you go look at the top 10 airlines, I am sure you will find jobs supporting sales. A passenger airline is a very complex business. Major airlines usually have thousands of professional staff at headquarters. Just start looking at their websites and see what you can find! JetBlue usually has a ton of open jobs, but all the major airlines are hiring to some degree.

If you have never designed an airplane part before, let the real designers do the work!

Ever thought about cargo sales for an airline? Can be passenger airline also, since they also carry cargo on board, and some airlines have a mixed fleet (SQ, TG, BR, CI, KE, CX etc). It's an office job, you might get the chance to fly now and then, but don't expect too much of that.The people who regularly fly, are the pilots. Onboard loadmasters is almost nothing anymore nowadays, on the big companies with the modern fleets... You might have the occasional attendant thing for a special customer/shipment (e.g. artwork, live stock etc), giving you a chance to fly on board.